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Clark Gregg reprises his role of Agent Phil Coulson from Marvel’s feature films as he assembles a small, highly select group of Agents from the worldwide law-enforcement organization known as S.H.I.E.L.D. Together they investigate the new, the strange, and the unknown across the globe, protecting the ordinary from the extraordinary. Coulson’s team consists of Agent Grant Ward (Brett Dalton), highly trained in combat and espionage, Agent Melinda May (Ming-Na Wen) expert pilot and martial artist, Agent Leo Fitz (Iain De Caestecker); brilliant engineer and Agent Jemma Simmons (Elizabeth Henstridge) genius bio-chemist. Joining them on their journey into mystery is new recruit and computer hacker Skye (Chloe Bennet). From Executive Producers Joss Whedon (“Marvel’s The Avengers,” ”Buffy the Vampire Slayer”); Jed Whedon & Maurissa Tancharoen, “Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.” pilot co-writers (“Dollhouse,” “Dr.Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog”); Jeffrey Bell (“Angel,” “Alias”); and Jeph Loeb (“Smallville”) comes Marvel’s first TV series. “Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.” is produced by ABC Studios and Marvel Television.

Great hook to get viewers. As a nerd, I'd go out of my way to watch this over any other "police procedural drama" that the networks cook up. I'm sure there will be little nods to Marvel U and Marvel Movie U lore.

Just thinking, but if they had done a TV show along the lines of "X-wing: Rogue Squadron" or even "Adventures of Walrus Man" in 1981 between Star Wars movies, I would've pissed my pants. Take background characters and spin them off into their own "free" TV series. If anything works, fold it into (or at least acknowledge it in) the next movie.

Oh, and "Marvel's first TV series"? Bill Bixby would be angry! You wouldn't like him when he's angry. But I get it, the first "modern (since 2008), tied into the current Marvel movies TV series".

Watched the first episode. A few annoying things (like the English science geeks) and the multiple SWERVES, but I also see enough to give it a few more episodes.

The stuff with Coulson returning from the dead seems predictable, which makes me suspect there's an additional SWERVE coming with it. I've seen a lot of online fanboy stuff like: "this is so Joss Whedon!"... but I couldn't care less. I feel the current buzz about him is a little like Kevin Smith in the late 90's. Seemed cool and the King of All Things Nerd, but his act got tired and now he's someone you kinda' avoid.

I could see myself getting really excited about this show, say, 10 years ago. "OMG! They said Project:Pegasus!"

Second episode and it's ....not very good. Asked myself: "if this didn't have Marvel attached to it, would I be watching this"? I think that's the gist of the criticisms I've read, so far, as this concept suddenly seems VERY thin.

They're trying for a bit of a Criminal Minds vibe (or "Firefly" for you Whedon-suckers), with the team in a big plane, but this week's "un-sub" was terrible:a leftover HYDRA device stuck in a Peruvian tomb. Again, strip away the word "HYDRA" and you there's nothing to really engage you.

Right now, I'd say this feels like one of the countless syndicated adventure series that ran on the local TV channels (or early UPN), circa 1995. Think: Bandit, Conan, Relic Hunter and Xena. Or one of the FOX shows from around that same time, like "Space: Above and Beyond". Consider that the only real "success" out of that batch was Xena.

SPOILER for episode 2: post-credit scene, which was the best scene of the entire episode.

Yeah, the entire team being stuck together on a fancy plane makes me think that Whedon really wishes he was reviving Firefly instead.

I think I'm higher on the series than you are so far, but I am going to get frustrated with the lack of Marvel themes if this continues the way it has. There are characters who would work perfectly on a TV-budget series (Luke Cage springs to mind) that I'd rather see pop up and develop.

I have enough faith in Whedon that once this gets rolling, it'll be really good, but so far it's off to a *** start. Or for you SamoaRowe marks, "Thumbs in the middle, leaning up."

I think I'm higher on the series than you are so far, but I am going to get frustrated with the lack of Marvel themes if this continues the way it has.

Yeah, you're definitely higher on it than I am. I'm "Thumbs in the Middle, Leaning Down". Was "Leaning Up" last week. So I hope we can chalk this up to just a bad episode.

When I saw the Peru and pyramid/tomb setting, the first thing I thought of was Kang and the convoluted Avengers/Spidey team-up from Avengers #14(volume 1). I think Marvel went back and re-visited that setting in the mid-90's.

The pay-off was just...a thing stuck in a wall. Then they name-drop a few things by saying stuff like HYDRA, "Gamma radiation" or "Stark is technically a consultant, too" to keep us comic nerds engrossed.

I understand that this will not be "Marvel Universe: Weekly" and it wasn't marketed as such. The core cast is what will make of break this for me; regardless of how many Marvel references they include on a weekly basis. I think you'll really be disappointed if you expect someone like Cage, Marc Spector or even Stingray to pop up. Best we'll get is this week's Surprise Cameo Guest or someone like Maria Hill. Black Widow and/or Hawkeye seem like natural cameos, too.

The subplot about Skye being a mole could have a Marvel-rich pay-off. I'd say AIM, if they hadn't already burned that connection in "Iron Man 3". The real power behind last week's Centipede stuff wasn't revealed, so they could also name-drop something there.

I could see this thing tanking after about 7 episodes if the Coulson and mole sub-plots don't work well. At that point, I would not be surprised if they start trying to bring in new characters. Jasper Sitwell was the first name I thought of when this series was announced.

Two things I DO like:-Coulson constantly saying "it's a magical place" whenever Tahiti is mentioned. Countless directions you can go with that.-Agent May as the "calvary". Chick Who Drives Stuff is a weak character, so having her as another (reluctant) Black Widow is good.

Third episode was a marked improvement. It almost WAS "Marvel Universe: Weekly".

Oh, and some big SPOILERS... so click away now if you don't wanna' know.

-I'm drawing a blank on who "Ian Quinn" is/was in Marvel.

-For what was supposedly an assault on a Bad Guy Complex, it seemed a let-down that they just sent in TWO SHIELD agents and they faced three guys in khakis, who looked like jobbers from a late 80's action movie.

-I recognized the name Franklin Hall immediately, so it made the swerve about him leaking info to SHIELD lacking in suspense. When they broke him out of the truck, I thought he was a prisoner and not a "mobile asset". Yes, we then got the Origin of Graviton. They keep doing stuff like this and they'll have extremely giddy fanboys jizzing themselves, every week. No way you'd want a movie about Graviton, so that's where this show can work wonders for the Marvel Movie U. You can introduce as many guys like this as you want, then have a big Vault Breakout in a future Avengers movie. These secondary villains gets their background stories, here, and everybody's happy.

- I guess this ends the subplot about Skye being a mole? Too much time spent with her, but I imagine the actress tested well with the 18-30 male demographic.

-Not sold on Agent Ward. He's looking too much like a Macy's Men's Apparel Model and not the bad-ass he's supposed to be. They can't seem to decide if he's "Archer" or "Jason Bourne".

-Minor, minor nitpicks... but Interstate 76 around "Sterling, Colorado" looks nothing like the eastern California setting they used in this episode. It's more like western Nebraska (plains and farm land) around there. I smiled when I saw they were using Colorado, as this continues Marvel's long standing tradition of never picking up a book (or Googling) when they set a story in "Colorado". Wasn't too distracting, though, and I'm sure nobody else cared. More of an inside joke for me than anything else.

...and the guy turns out to be someone completely new called "Scorch". Despite that deliberately silly name, this episode took over as "Best. Episode. So Far".

I guess they really are running with calling their mystery group "Centipede". Just sounded ...weird... when they said it aloud. A few more hints about this group, as "The Girl in the Flowered Dress" seems to be their new key agent. They also have prison ties with an extra from Sons of Anarchy and someone named "The Clairvoyant". I'd hope that "The Clairvoyant" would be an updated Mentallo.

"Centipede" also uses the late 90's Intel Engineers to abduct people. This is either a really lame version of the famous AIM bee-keeper outfits, or else the costume department had a deadline. They mentioned Extremis, again, so AIM seems more and more like a possibility. I'm kinda' hoping it turns out to be HAMMER... and you know a season finale cameo by Willem DaFoe would send a giant jizz bubble across the fanboy world. With the way they acted and how they messed with Scorch's blood, reminded me of HAMMER stealing Wolverine's blood a few years ago in "Avengers".

Positive improvement in this episode was Agent May leading the charge. Forget Ward, she's the front-line tushy-kicker the show needs.

Oh, and Skye also has an SD card slot in her left boob, where she keeps a memory card filled with PDFs of information about her parents. Another orphan in Marvel's world? No way.

In regards to "Scorch" are they not allowed to use Sunfire, Pyro, or other X-Men characters due to Fox owning the film rights?

Agreed with the lack of chemistry between Skye and Ward. Come to think of it, Ward is a useless character in general, sort of your paint-by-numbers white male for primetime. He reminds me of Riley from Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and he's kind of the poster boy for generic male character that fans reject.

I still like this show enough to watch it every week and think it has potential.

In regards to "Scorch" are they not allowed to use Sunfire, Pyro, or other X-Men characters due to Fox owning the film rights?

That'd be my first guess, as well. I don't know how extensive those rights are, since Sunfire hasn't been seen or mentioned in any X-Men film, to date (heck, was he even in any of the X-men cartoons?) I wonder if the negotiations and rights are that extensive that even fringe characters like Unus or Stevie Hunter are considered "X-men property" and have been licensed to Fox. There's been a buncha' fanboy fighting about whose camp Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch fall into.

We never saw the body, so the door is still open for "Scorch" to come back. Since they made it a point to talk about his cheesy name, you there's a small chance he could come back as "Sunfire". I could see him returning and looking like the Age of Apocalypse Sunfire. Plus, Sunfire's currently an "Uncanny" Avenger, so there's that connection.

I'd caution holding out hope for Sunfire, though, since this guy was Chinese not Japanese. Then remember that the name "Sunfire" tied into that heritage; "Land of the Rising Sun" and all.

I heard something about Quicksilver appearing in both Avengers: Age of Ultron and X-Men: Days of Future Past, but will be portrayed by different actors and will not have any connection besides being based on the same character. Scarlet Witch is also rumored for the next Avengers. I would guess there is a loophole with them because they have both logged in plenty of time as Avengers and were eligible (even though Skrulls couldn't be used in the first Avengers film because they're considered Fantastic Four villains, which is also still owned by Fox).

I feel like Sunfire was an extra in the old 90's X-Men cartoon, whenever there was a random group of mutants who needed rescuing (like in the slave island episode).

I would love this Scorch character to end up being Sunfire. I forget, did they give Scorch a real name or was he just referred to as the target/victim/hostage/whatever?

I would love this Scorch character to end up being Sunfire. I forget, did they give Scorch a real name or was he just referred to as the target/victim/hostage/whatever?

His official name was "Chan Ho Yin" and not "Shiro Yoshida" (Sunfire). Again, Scorch was Chinese not Japanese. Kinda' like thinking the Iron Sheik would be an Iraqi, because he was from Iran :)

Rowe, that's not directed at you, rather all the speculative talk about this show, ELSEWHERE, that has a boner for him becoming Sunfire. And, oh by the way, Scorch didn't fly.

"Flowered Dress Girl" introduced herself to Yin as "Rayna", but that could be an alias.

You're probably right about Sunfire in the animated (melodramatic) mid-90's FOX cartoon. Like when they all went to Genosha or whatever. This has nothing to do with his licensing rights, but I think his only notable TV appearance was in 1981 with "Spider-Man and his Amazing Friends", when he and Firestar had a thing for one episode.